It’s Bachelor season, which means millions of people (yes, millions) are tuning in every week to find out which of the 32 chosen women will win the heart (and some pretty lucrative brand deals) of the bachelor himself, Joey Graziadei. After 28 seasons, the show has seen some ups and downs, but there’s something particularly fun about this season — and we’re crediting that to the Toronto effect on this very American show, thanks to fan-favourite Maria Georgas.
Georgas — now one of 10 women left on the show to vy for Graziadei’s love — is from Kleinberg, Ontario, just an hour north of Toronto. Since her very Canadian arrival on the show (she exited the limo to the sounds of the Canadian national anthem and handed Graziadei and puzzlingly blurred out Canadian flag), the executive assistant has had the entire internet on her side — no small feat considering the show’s best attempts to drum up drama!
Graziadei is similarly enthralled, referring to Georgas as an “enigma” and affirming multiple times that she “keeps him on his toes.” Whether she’s “slipping into something more comfortable” in the middle of a conversation with him, making him show some personality on their date (a rarity for the leads on The Bachelor) or getting him to tell her he loves her in French during their trip to Montreal, we have to say we agree with Graziadei! It seems like everybody is Georgas’s number one fan, so much so that viewers are genuinely torn between wanting her to receive the final rose and getting her own season of The Bachelorette.
MARIA IS GETTING THE BACHELORETTE EDIT MARIA IS GETTING THE BACHELORETTE EDIT ?️?️?️ #TheBachelor #bachelor #bachelorabc #thebachelorabc pic.twitter.com/SYSt0S7iej
— lani✿ (@lanicmeneses) February 20, 2024
The numbers don’t lie, and they’re telling a similar story about the Toronto (OK fine, Maria) effect. Reality TV data analyst Suzana Somers reported that Georgas dominated screen time thus far on the show, leading all the other contestants by 24 minutes — a record lead in screen time since at least 12 seasons ago in 2020. Georgas was also one of two contestants on The Bachelor this season to hit 300,000 followers, a feat that hasn’t been achieved by a contestant since 2021.
Georgas isn’t the first Canadian to make it big in The Bachelor franchise — leads Jillian Harris and Kaitlyn Bristowe are both Canadian, and Jesse Palmer, who now hosts the show, is a former lead as well and is originally from Toronto. And Bachelor and Paradise favourite Serena Pitt, originally a contestant on The Bachelor, is from just outside Toronto.
But Georgas might be the first to be as universally loved as she is in such a divisive franchise. “How do you feel after singlehandedly saving the entire Bachelor franchise?” a comment on her most recent Instagram post reads.
Only time will tell if Graziadei ends up choosing Georgas, but if not, hey — the Toronto Bachelorette has a nice ring to it!
